After a few months of not smoking, how do you avoid the urge to smoke?

[Reciprocity]

I believe I still had the occasional "urge" at my 1 year mark or just beyond. They weren't very often and they weren't anything I couldn't easily dismiss but they just seemed to come out of nowhere for no apparent reason. Didn't bother me that much really.

 

Since then, I would say I don't get "urges" per se but every one in a long while it will just come into my brain that I would like to have a smoke. As soon as that happens, I just kind of laugh it off because smoking is just something I can't see myself ever doing again. There would just be no reason to and actually; I hate it now!!

[despair not]

I don't think the urge ever goes away it just gets weaker and less frequent.

 

After 7 years I occasionally think one won't hurt but then I dismiss it with the thought that just one a day soon becomes a pack a day.

 

[DenaliBlues]

I’m a little past the 2 yr mark and I had a really strong urge the other day. I was totally annoyed by it… but not in danger. My experience thus far is that the cravings still come, but the intervals between them are getting longer. Basically I told it to “shoo” and kept busy with other stuff… I forgot about it in moments.

 

In the moment the cravings really bug the crap outa me, but I also sort of appreciate them… a reminder that I am an addict (no matter how much time passes) and that I need to stay conscientious about my quit.

 

 

Edited April 14 by DenaliBlues

[jillar]

Yep, I agree with the other old pharts. The thoughts do still come every once in a while but nothing gnarly enough to use my JAC,  and gone just as quickly as it showed up.  

[Doreensfree]

The more minutes you move away room smoking the easier it gets ,soon those urges will become a fleeting thought now and again ..

Di I ever get the urge …after 10 years ..not at all ..I think if I wasn’t here on the train I wouldn’t think of it at all ..

I come here every day tallking about cigarettes …do I ever think of myself smoking …Never …

Im still so proud of my Quit …Freedom is the best feeling …

 

[QuittingGirl]

Thanks everyone!!  I guess it's normal just hopefully it won't happen to frequently.  But I did get through it!! Yay!!  Thanks for your help once again!!! 

[Lust4Life2016]

Chiming in to say after 7 years and change in my quit…I refer to those “urges” as “nostalgia”.  

 

For me, now in my 50s, I sometimes crave the lifestyle of being in my younger years.
 

Those years included smoking.

 

I hear certain songs…I remember not only cigarettes but cloves.  Ack!!!
 

Back then I was naive but smart enough to know better than to smoke but did it anyway.

 

So, I was a closeted smoker.  For years…

so I thought.  I fooled no one - other than myself. 
 

Nostalgia is OK.  Making it present day reality is not.  NOPE!

L4L